Kiss The Pavement
by iridescentZEN
Summary: Kimberly's thoughts on Peter's lie. KM and KP


Kiss the Pavement

Author: iridescentZEN

Fandom: Melrose Place(old school 1990s version)

Pairing: Michael/Kimberly, Kimberly/Peter

Spoils: Season 4

varietypack100 prompt: 064 fall

* * *

It would have been easy to fall for Peter Burns. Much easier, in fact, than falling for Michael Mancini. Michael only brought pain, heartache and mental illness.

Peter was unattached, with no pesky wife at home that could label her a whore or a home wrecker. Kimberly never wanted to be those things; never dreamed that she would ever be the other woman. Yet she had been.

It stung that all that drama, all that stress had been for nothing. That Michael had never truly loved her. That he, a doctor, had been willing to cradle a scotch while he watched her die.

Even worse, it hurt more that her mother was right. Told her not to get involved. Said that a relationship started the way theirs had would never last.

That if Michael could cheat with her, he would cheat on her.

There was some kind of dark allure between her and Michael that didn't exist with Peter. Peter was a shining beacon of light with his angelic features, and his way with words.

Peter made her feel beautiful, wanted and desired. Things that Michael hadn't made her feel for entirely too long. She was his wife, his little bit of nothing. Michael Mancini's $100,000 insurance check.

Unfortunately, both Michael and Peter spoke with forked tongues. Neither had ever loved her. She wasn't worth their adoration, their fixations, because she was just good enough for _screwing_ and not enough for _loving_.

Kimberly thought Michael had changed. God, she'd tried to give him children. Tried to immortalize them both, their love, into DNA that would pass through generations, linking them forever in its code. She did everything in her power to make him happy and it wasn't enough.

Wasn't enough because he didn't want her anymore. It was bad enough that she was served with the divorce papers, but to use the excuse that she was barren for filing them was just cruel.

Then she wasn't enough for Peter because he was done with her, satisfied with the sex and none of the emotion. In the beginning she thought she stood a chance. She blossomed beneath his flattery, and fell for his charm - right into his bed, which unfortunately was the only way he wanted her.

How idiotic she had been. Despite all that she'd been through, to get burned twice? She couldn't take it.

Now she was in the straight jacket ward and she just wanted out. No one wanted her. No one loved her. No one even liked her. Especially the doctor that she just stabbed through the hand with a #2 pencil. That hadn't been thought through. No thought of consequence, only action. She climbed the stairs, unconsciously going up, because she knew she would do whatever it took. Peter calling after her made her run even faster, because he was right behind her, and he didn't understand. She had to get out. Had to have peace.

\\Why? Because you care about me? No one cares./

The only way she was going to get that peace was to end it.

"Can you tell me that you love me? Can you?" she asked, certain the answer would be "no."

Kimberly took a deep breath. The fresh air felt good in her lungs. She's not sure how long she spent in that cell, but it had to be at least three weeks. The concrete was strangely cold beneath her feet, and she wanted more than anything to kiss the pavement and end it all. She probably wouldn't even feel it. Her head was no stranger to blunt cranial trauma and swelling of the brain. A metal plate screwed in place was the only thing that kept the pieces of her together.

A respirator to do her breathing for her.

Three months in a coma.

Two months of intense physical and mental therapy.

And then there was Cooper, but Kimberly found herself the other woman again, because Coop was married to Lexi, and he lied and didn't tell her ... and she thought she was done being a slut.

Thought she was done coming in second place.

All that medical school wasted because she couldn't bear to be alone.

It didn't matter anyway.

They would all move on, and probably wouldn't spare her a thought for the living nightmare that seemed to be her life. Michael would be relieved. Sydney would probably feel like she hit the jackpot. That girl was a hungry vulture circling around a dying lion, just waiting.

Maybe if Kimberly had stayed in Ohio. If she stayed there she might have her own practice now, maybe even children, and a husband who didn't drive her to taking a bottle full of sedatives washed down with a bottle of wine.

No chance of either of those things now.

"Kimberly, wait!" Peter's voice made her hesitate. "Yes," He said, and she echoed the word silently to herself, shocked that she heard it. Yes? His lie, "I love you," had her crumbling backward in his arms, a shaking mess.

Later, when the sedatives wore off and she was once again alone in her cell with only her guilt, the fog lifted from her mind. Everything was clear again.

Like crystal.

Peter lied to her.

There was no way he loved her. He loved Amanda.

The same woman her husband wanted to divorce her for.

Peter lied.

He lied to her.

Kimberly wished he hadn't.

It would have been such a beautiful fall.

End.


End file.
